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Experimental developments in dedicated scanners for positron emission tomography (in English)
Author(s) -
Damiani Chiara
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
medical physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.473
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 2473-4209
pISSN - 0094-2405
DOI - 10.1118/1.1406942
Subject(s) - electronics , scintillator , detector , scanner , photoelectric effect , optics , nuclear electronics , physics , medical physics , computer science , electrical engineering , engineering
The thesis describes a prototype of a new read out electronics developed for the YAPPET small animal PET tomograph at the Physics Laboratory of the University of Ferrara. The purpose of the new electronics was to make the YAPPET scanner easier to use and more suitable for duplication at other research institutes. The results of tests of the new electronics over a 3 year period are presented. The new electronics prototype attained the same performance as the present YAPPET electronics in energy, position, and time measurements. In addition, a significant improvement in count rate capability is now being studied. The second major component of this thesis is a description of the development of a new scanner prototype incorporating a PET detection system based on YAP:Ce scintillator matrix crystals and wave length shifting (WLS) fibers. Two ribbons of WLS fibers are mounted on the opposite sides of the scintillator matrix in order to read out the columns and the rows of the matrix and recognize the interaction point XY position. The thesis describes the investigation of the materials and methods to be used in this new design. The first tests with the new prototype detector are described in detail: the main result of these preliminary measurements is the evaluation of the light yield of the system which is a signal of about 10 photoelectrons on the detector for 511 keV photoelectric interactions. The new scanner design uses the YAPPET basic principles, but it should have improved performance with applicability to other fields such as scinti‐mammography. Copies of this thesis can be obtained from the Department of Physics of the University of Pisa or the author.